As Omicron surges, monoclonals fall short
Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, is the only such treatment that is proving effective against the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, but as of now, its availability is critically limited due to supply chain issues, labor shortages, and political miscalculations.
“Everybody suddenly wants to use the Glaxo product,” says Dr. Reuven D. Cofsky, chief of infectious diseases at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. “But there is one problem — supply. Of the 55,000 doses in the United States, New York’s share, given out last Tuesday, was 4,200 doses.
“This is what happens when politicians and bureaucrats make the decisions about where to send it. One hospital that I know has 30 doses. We don’t know how long it’s going to last. Mount Sinai has, I think, 45 doses.”
In hospitals, increasingly, the acronym MOAB stands for monoclonal antibodies, the mother of all treatments once a patient becomes ill with Covid (echoing its use in military parlance as “massive ordnance air blast,” or more popularly, the “mother of all bombs”). It is a drug made artificially to mimic antibodies, which can blast away the effects of Covid in 24 hours.
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